As of: April 8, 2024, 7:00 a.m
By: Sebastian Grauvogl
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Ready for mating: Between 30 to 45 bee colonies including the queen are brought to the Pfaffenkopf mating site every year for their nuptial flight. © private
This has never happened before: The beekeepers in the Tegernsee Valley are complaining for the first time about incorrect mating at the breeding point on Pfaffenkopf. Because this puts breeding success at risk, they have an important appeal.
Rottach-Egern/District
– Beekeepers insist on a closed society during the royal wedding flight. In order to avoid unwanted mating with others, they maintain so-called mating sites that are protected by a state-set radius. “As a rule, that’s 7.5 kilometers,” explains beekeeper Max Stoib from Hausham. This is also the case with the beekeeping point at Pfaffenkopf, which the district beekeeping association Gmund, Tegernseer Tal and the surrounding area, of which Stoib is vice-chairman, operates in the high mountains on Rottach's municipal land. This has always worked well since 1977, says Stoib. The beekeepers were all the more shocked when they discovered mismating for the first time.
This means that there were apparently “wrong” bees in the protective circle in 2023. As a result, the pure breeding conditions were no longer adhered to in a good 20 percent of cases. Stoib and his colleagues noticed this, for example, in yellow rings on the bees' abdomens. Although initially only a visual indication, it could indicate further changes - for example in the behavioral characteristics that are important for beekeeping.
According to Stoib, it is not possible to reconstruct where the intruders came from despite the actually remote location of the boarding point. It is assumed that someone kept bee colonies in the surrounding area. One does not want to assume bad intention, but rather ignorance. “Beekeeping has become a new trendy hobby,” says Stoib. Unfortunately, not all newcomers know about the complex processes such as the importance of the booking points.
The need for these protective zones is due to the fact that the newly hatched queens are mated by the drones at a height of 25 meters - and therefore outside the control of the breeder. Ten to 20 drones mate with a queen during the so-called nuptial flight. They, in turn, carry the sperm for fertilizing the workers' eggs for their entire life (i.e. three to four years). Compliance with the pure breeding conditions is therefore all the more important. This is the only way to ensure that characteristics such as performance, gentleness, honeycomb position, vitality and health and, for some years now, tolerance to the Varroa mite are maintained. “All performance-tested queens and their colony are entered into a breeding value assessment and approved with a trait test,” explains Stoib.
Incidentally, two of the nine state-designated registration points throughout Upper Bavaria are located in the Miesbach district. The one on the Pfaffenkopf and one on the Sonnwendjoch in the Kloo-Aschertal near Bayrischzell. The Miesbach district beekeeping association operates the latter with a protection circle of ten kilometers. Both places have bees from the “Carnica line” breeding style. The demand is correspondingly high. As Stoib reports, between 30 and 45 breeders deliver 900 to 1,300 queens for mating every year at Pfaffenkopf. Journeys of up to 200 kilometers are not uncommon. Around 25 sibling full colonies with their drones would then be waiting for them at Pfaffenkopf for the 14-day wedding flight.
In order not to ruin this effort, Stoib and his fellow beekeepers appeal to all beekeepers before the mating season begins at the end of May to keep their colonies away from the protective circles. “Some bee lovers may not even be aware of this, which is why local alpine farmers should urgently point it out to them.”
By the way: Everything from the region is also available in our regular Tegernsee newsletter.